The championship

So, my right arm is kind of sore.... from 16 innings of throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

Yeah, we played 16 innings of softball yesterday. Our first game went 9 innings. Our games are 6 or 7 innings usually. We won with a walkoff single in the bottom of the 9th. It was a great game. We never should have lost our lead, but we came back to win.

The second game was the championship game. We played the only undefeated team. They lead from the second inning until the top of the 7th. We came to bat down by 6. The top of the 7th included the most freaking awesome home run I have ever seen in softball. An absolute bomb to center field, which brought us within two with one out. To make the long story shorter, we got a huge two out hit, and we took the lead. In the bottom of the 7th, the other team loaded the bases with two outs, but we got that last out, and we are the Roseville Fall League champions. I know it's a small thing, but MAN does it feel good.

Of mice and men...

Ignore the title of the post.

There has been a lot going on, as there will continue to be. These are the facts.

Softball playoffs were canceled on Monday due to rain. We are supposed to play them this Monday instead. I hear that rain is again forcasted.

Much more importantly, my 13 year old nephew Shon is currently in a pediatric intensive care unit recovering. Earlier today, he had surgery to remove fluid and other nasty crap from his left lung. He has severe pneumonia. The surgery went well, and now it is time for the Antibiotics to kick ass, and take care of this infection.

So, this blog may get ignored for a while. Not that it matters. Just a heads up.

I guess the good news is, I have been doing a ton of walking at the hospital. A freaking ton.

Goals

First of all, HD cameras are a wonderful thing. Keenan did a skit as Maya Angelou on SNL this week... and you can totally see his facial hair. I love it. He was a good Maya Angelou.

Anyhow. Softball happened tonight. We got out to a very quick start. After one inning, we lead 12-1. We let up big time, and in the end, we won 16-9. I was 2-4, but we are really going to count it as 2-3, because strike 3 was called on a pitch that was definitely not a strike in my second at bat. But anyhow, I only had one poor hit... Just a lame duck.

The problem is, I am having trouble running. My legs HATE it. Even just the 60 feet to first base. I used to be able to handle this. Even earlier this season, I was running much better than this.

I can not deal with this anymore. I can not be THAT guy on this team. I need to be able to run. I need to be able to play this freaking game. Any freaking game. So, I finally decided to set some solid goals. Keep in mind that this is just a starting point. There are more to come, and they will not all be related to softball. I intend these goals for next year. I want to be fit enough to do all of this again. I have done all of these things before.

Softball Goals:

- No pinch runners
- Hit 5 doubles
- Hit a triple
- Beat out a ground ball

That will be a good start. Believe me, I have a lot more to add.

Friends...

Since I am so bad at this whole fitness and weight loss thing, this blog has had a bit more of a focus on my every day life. Now, it is losing even that bit of focus. I find it difficult to find anything that I want to say here.

This is not my first blog. I have gone through writing lulls in the past. This is not one of those. This is something different.

I have a friend. A friend who has become one of my best friends. A friend who I can talk with about anything and everything. And believe me, we do talk about anything and everything.

It has been a long time since I felt this healthy mentally and spiritually.

I will continue to blog as much as I can here. I just felt like sharing why I am not updating how I used to.

The only bad thing is, my friend lives about a thousand miles away. But even so, she is just what I needed, and just when I needed it.

Big softball game

Before the game this week, I looked into our standings. We were, at the beginning of the day, in a four way tie for 2nd place in an 8 team league. That meant that just to make sure we get in, we needed to win this week, and we need to win next week.

We crushed them.

We scored 10 in the first inning, and eventually won by 6 after playing a relaxed last few innings, and letting a few runs score that definitely should not have. We played a really great game. We should be in, but we still need to win next week to make sure. We are playing a team with only 1 win, but we can not let that stop us from doing our best to dominate.

So, two weeks left including playoffs, and the softball year is over. I am kind of sad about that.

I came home and my muscles all got really tight. So, I just finished the hottest shower of my life. What I really needed was a soak in a hot tub, but the shower was nice.

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I have to tell you, I have become so very sick and tired of the limitations that my body puts on me. I really need to figure this out. I can hardly run to first base right now. It is so much more than just looking better. I need to be lighter, because my body can not continue to have this strain on it. Yes, it is still about being healthier, but it has to be about my body size, as well. It has to, because I can not be what I am anymore. It is too painful.

Because I don't update enough...

We got our asses handed to us in softball on Monday. We should be playing so much better than we do sometimes. It amazes me.

Of course, I had been throwing up all day, and was not in great shape for the game. I did hit a double, though!

I am kind of excited for the gym tomorrow. My schedule became to busy to allow for exercise pretty much all week. That annoyed me.

My friend and my acquaintance have become linked, you might say. This makes me very happy. You know who you are, and yes, I am talking about you. :) I think this is a good matchup.

Almonds are becoming my favorite snack. Except I just ate way too many of them. And they are kind of expensive.

I hope to have more to say soon.

A weekend on the coast

I spent my weekend in the amazing Central Coast area of California. I went, hoping that a couple of students would walk into the class, thus allowing me to teach.

Well, two things did not happen. I did not teach, and I did not at any point actually see the ocean.

What an epic failure.

What I did do was eat a lot of food, drink a lot of beer, stay up way too late, and hang out with Nick.

What a great weekend.

This weekend, I wondered how much I would actually have to drink to get drunk. Maybe I am just a slow drinker. I do not mind it. Being drunk seems... ludicrous to me. It must be a lot more fun than it looks.

I used the "fitness center" in the hotel. Their recumbent bike was breathtaking. I meant to take a cell phone picture, but forgot. It had this unbelievably comfortable seat, a full mesh back, and a completely different computer than the one I normally use. I am used to riding on level 10-12, but level 7 on this bike was insane. I kicked it down to level 6, and it was still my most intensive bike session ever. I apparently did almost 7 miles in half an hour, which is a step up from what I'm used to.

The other thing to mention is that the hotel fitness center had the amazing bike, and two treadmills.

Yes, that's all.